LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators

Plant diversity is critical to ensure the future of humanity, as it provides essential ecosystem services and functioning. As recent estimates showed that animal-mediated pollination is crucial for the reproduction of approximately 90% of flowering plants, playing an essential role in maintaining bi...

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Autores: Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio, Costantino, Roberto, Barberis, Marta, Bogo, Gherardo, Birtele, Daniele, Cangelmi, Giacomo, Dal Cin, Matteo, Devalez, Jelle, Lenzi, Lucia, Magagnoli, Serena, Minici, Alessio, Sánchez, José María, Zenga, Emanuele Luigi, Bortolotti, Laura, Navarro, Luis, Petanidou, Theodora, Sgolastra, Fabio, Traveset, Anna, Galloni, Marta
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/406805
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/406805
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105009613948
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Threatened species
Alien species
Conservation
Participatory web platform
Plant-pollinator interactions
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network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
title LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
spellingShingle LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio
Threatened species
Alien species
Conservation
Participatory web platform
Plant-pollinator interactions
title_short LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
title_full LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
title_fullStr LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
title_full_unstemmed LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
title_sort LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinators
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio
Costantino, Roberto
Barberis, Marta
Bogo, Gherardo
Birtele, Daniele
Cangelmi, Giacomo
Dal Cin, Matteo
Devalez, Jelle
Lenzi, Lucia
Magagnoli, Serena
Minici, Alessio
Sánchez, José María
Zenga, Emanuele Luigi
Bortolotti, Laura
Navarro, Luis
Petanidou, Theodora
Sgolastra, Fabio
Traveset, Anna
Galloni, Marta
author Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio
author_facet Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio
Costantino, Roberto
Barberis, Marta
Bogo, Gherardo
Birtele, Daniele
Cangelmi, Giacomo
Dal Cin, Matteo
Devalez, Jelle
Lenzi, Lucia
Magagnoli, Serena
Minici, Alessio
Sánchez, José María
Zenga, Emanuele Luigi
Bortolotti, Laura
Navarro, Luis
Petanidou, Theodora
Sgolastra, Fabio
Traveset, Anna
Galloni, Marta
author_role author
author2 Costantino, Roberto
Barberis, Marta
Bogo, Gherardo
Birtele, Daniele
Cangelmi, Giacomo
Dal Cin, Matteo
Devalez, Jelle
Lenzi, Lucia
Magagnoli, Serena
Minici, Alessio
Sánchez, José María
Zenga, Emanuele Luigi
Bortolotti, Laura
Navarro, Luis
Petanidou, Theodora
Sgolastra, Fabio
Traveset, Anna
Galloni, Marta
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv European Commission
Governo Italiano
Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio [0009-0008-9185-6758]
Costantino, Roberto [0000-0003-3428-1077]
Galloni, Marta [0000-0001-5304-7820]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Threatened species
Alien species
Conservation
Participatory web platform
Plant-pollinator interactions
topic Threatened species
Alien species
Conservation
Participatory web platform
Plant-pollinator interactions
description Plant diversity is critical to ensure the future of humanity, as it provides essential ecosystem services and functioning. As recent estimates showed that animal-mediated pollination is crucial for the reproduction of approximately 90% of flowering plants, playing an essential role in maintaining biodiversity and agricultural productivity, effort to preserve plants cannot be disjoined from pollinator conservation initiatives. Despite their importance, pollinators have experienced alarming declines. The LIFE 4 Pollinators project was launched to involve people protecting wild bees and other pollinators in the Mediterranean. This study presents data collected through the project's web-platform, where users uploaded over 2,000 photographs of plant-pollinator interactions between 2021 and 2024. The dataset focuses on the identification of flower-visiting insects and plants, and the current study gives emphasis to citizen scientists' ability to identify plants and pollinators. 1,407 photo-records were analysed, revealing that bees and beetles were the most frequent pollinators, with plants of the Asteraceae and Cistaceae families being the most recorded. Users correctly identified 93.7% of insect taxonomic aggregations and 74.2% of plant species. The study also highlights the recording of threatened, alien, and invasive species, including the vulnerable Callicera spinolae and the invasive Vespa velutina. The plant-pollinator network analysis supports the floral syndrome concept, with floral morphologies like 'Head' and 'Disk' attracting a wide range of pollinators. The results indicate that citizen science contributes to the identification and monitoring of pollinators, generating knowledge that may be key to the conservation of these organisms and to better understand plant-pollinator interactions. Data collection through citizen-generated photographs allows to significantly expand the geographic area and the magnitude of studies, facilitating large-scale analyses that would be difficult to achieve with traditional monitoring methods. These findings provide a useful basis for future conservation initiatives and the development of policies aimed at mitigating pollinator decline.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/406805
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105009613948
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/406805
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105009613948
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101054177
Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio; Costantino, Roberto; Barberis, Marta; Bogo, Gherardo; Lenzi, Lucia; Cangelmi, Giacomo; Magagnoli, Serena; Minici, Alessio; Bortolotti, Laura; Navarro, Luis; Petanidou, Theodora; Sgolastra, Fabio; Traveset, Anna; Galloni, Marta; 2025; LIFE4Pollinators' Platform: How Citizen Science Can Help Monitoring Plants and Pollinators [Dataset]; Zenodo; Version 1.0; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15045829
https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plaf023

dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Oxford University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Oxford University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling LIFE 4 Pollinators' platform: How citizen science can help monitoring plants and pollinatorsBitonto, Fortunato FulvioCostantino, RobertoBarberis, MartaBogo, GherardoBirtele, DanieleCangelmi, GiacomoDal Cin, MatteoDevalez, JelleLenzi, LuciaMagagnoli, SerenaMinici, AlessioSánchez, José MaríaZenga, Emanuele LuigiBortolotti, LauraNavarro, LuisPetanidou, TheodoraSgolastra, FabioTraveset, AnnaGalloni, MartaThreatened speciesAlien speciesConservationParticipatory web platformPlant-pollinator interactionsPlant diversity is critical to ensure the future of humanity, as it provides essential ecosystem services and functioning. As recent estimates showed that animal-mediated pollination is crucial for the reproduction of approximately 90% of flowering plants, playing an essential role in maintaining biodiversity and agricultural productivity, effort to preserve plants cannot be disjoined from pollinator conservation initiatives. Despite their importance, pollinators have experienced alarming declines. The LIFE 4 Pollinators project was launched to involve people protecting wild bees and other pollinators in the Mediterranean. This study presents data collected through the project's web-platform, where users uploaded over 2,000 photographs of plant-pollinator interactions between 2021 and 2024. The dataset focuses on the identification of flower-visiting insects and plants, and the current study gives emphasis to citizen scientists' ability to identify plants and pollinators. 1,407 photo-records were analysed, revealing that bees and beetles were the most frequent pollinators, with plants of the Asteraceae and Cistaceae families being the most recorded. Users correctly identified 93.7% of insect taxonomic aggregations and 74.2% of plant species. The study also highlights the recording of threatened, alien, and invasive species, including the vulnerable Callicera spinolae and the invasive Vespa velutina. The plant-pollinator network analysis supports the floral syndrome concept, with floral morphologies like 'Head' and 'Disk' attracting a wide range of pollinators. The results indicate that citizen science contributes to the identification and monitoring of pollinators, generating knowledge that may be key to the conservation of these organisms and to better understand plant-pollinator interactions. Data collection through citizen-generated photographs allows to significantly expand the geographic area and the magnitude of studies, facilitating large-scale analyses that would be difficult to achieve with traditional monitoring methods. These findings provide a useful basis for future conservation initiatives and the development of policies aimed at mitigating pollinator decline.Research project implemented under the LIFE 4 Pollinators Project (LIFE18/GIE/IT/000755). MG was partially supported by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Project title ‘National Biodiversity Future Center -NBFC’. CUP J33C22001190001. FFB’s PhD grant was co-financed by the European Union- FSE REACT EU – PON R&I 2014–2020. AT, JMS and LN were partially supported by PolinIslas (ref. OAPN 2713/2021) project. AT was also partially supported by IslandLife ERC project under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (ref. 101054177).Peer reviewedOxford University PressEuropean CommissionGoverno ItalianoBitonto, Fortunato Fulvio [0009-0008-9185-6758]Costantino, Roberto [0000-0003-3428-1077]Galloni, Marta [0000-0001-5304-7820]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/406805https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105009613948reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101054177Bitonto, Fortunato Fulvio; Costantino, Roberto; Barberis, Marta; Bogo, Gherardo; Lenzi, Lucia; Cangelmi, Giacomo; Magagnoli, Serena; Minici, Alessio; Bortolotti, Laura; Navarro, Luis; Petanidou, Theodora; Sgolastra, Fabio; Traveset, Anna; Galloni, Marta; 2025; LIFE4Pollinators' Platform: How Citizen Science Can Help Monitoring Plants and Pollinators [Dataset]; Zenodo; Version 1.0; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15045829https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plaf023Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/4068052026-05-22T06:33:51Z
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